AIKEN, S.C -- On the final day of the USC Aiken Volleyball Invitational, the Nova Southeastern University volleyball team (6-1) closed out the tournament with two more wins. The Sharks began the day with a 3-0 win over Lees McRae and ended their tournament run with a dramatic come-from-behind 3-2 win over King College. NSU finished 3-1 over the two-day event.
The Sharks ended the tournament in much the same way it began with a five-set win, this time in dramatic come-from-behind fashion over King (4-4). NSU dropped the first two sets 25-23 and 25-18, but came back to win the last three 25-21, 25-20, 15-11.
Leading by as much as seven points in the first and six in the second, the Sharks got out of sync midway through both sets only to be faced with a 2-0 deficit against the Tornados. What happened next was the complete opposite. After the three minute break between sets two and three, a completely composed Sharks team took the court and accomplished the most extremely difficult task of winning the next three.
Refocused on the objective, NSU battled their way to a 13-7 lead to start the third set. Despite the Tornados coming to within two points down the stretch, the Sharks never relinquished the lead and narrowed the gap 2-1. The Sharks dominated the fourth set hitting a blistering .429 team percentage to King's .176 to even the match a two sets apiece.
Finally, in the fifth and final frame, NSU went down by two 9-7 just after switching sides. But after a Denvyr Tyler-Palmer (Fr., Jacksonville, Fla.) kill, the Sharks went on an 8-2 scoring run to close out the match and pulled off an emotionally charged win heading into conference play next weekend.
In the first match against Lees McRae, the Sharks clicked on all cylinders and took three straight sets 25-21, 25-21, 25-22 from the 0-7 Bobcats to even the series between the two teams 1-1. NSU took the early first-set lead. Although LRC tied it on three separate occasions, NSU held on for a 1-0 advantage.
Going neck-and-neck in the next frame, NSU fought off 11 different set ties. With the score tied 17 all, the Sharks took their last lead and outscored the Bobcats 8-4 down the stretch to go up 2-0 heading into the third set. The final set mirrored much of what happened in the second as both teams were evenly matched. However, with the score tied 21-21 the Sharks capitalized on several LRC mistakes and then Dana Holger (Sr., Lino Lakes, Minn.) ended the match with a kill for the win.
Holger continued to lead NSU collecting 28 kills on the day and adding 27 digs in the midst of posting a double-double in each of the Sharks' matches. Rookie Tyler-Palmer added 25 kills, while Sydney Cook (Sr., Miami, Fla.) and Caitlin Donahue (Sr., Miami, Fla.) finished with 20 and 14 kills respectively. Katie Pyles (Jr., Denver, Colo.) handed out 78 assists and collected 21 digs while guiding the Sharks' offense to just over a .250 hitting percentage and Kaelyn Brock (So., La Quinta, Calif.) collected 30 digs to pace the team.
The Sharks will return to friendly confines of the NSU Arena at the Don Taft University Center for a three-match slate. On Friday, Sept. 18, the Sharks will open Sunshine State Conference play against local rival Barry at 7 p.m. On Saturday, at 2 p.m. NSU will continue SSC play against Lynn, followed by a non-conference regional opponent at 6 p.m. against Flagler.
